AN AUSTRALIAN news broadcast led its breakfast bulletin the other morning with a report that the man charged with killing 11 Jewish worshippers in a Pittsburgh synagogue had plead not guilty. The act was heinous, disheartening and horrifically senseless and it reverberated around the world because grief is without borders. Or perhaps international news puts our home calamities into a kind of perspective. Or maybe it just gives us a lowest common denominator we can all morally reside over. READ MORE: A few moments later on the broadcast, there was a brief report of a candlelight vigil attended by hundreds in Adelaide for a woman who was murdered by a man at a shopping centre. According to the gender equity Facebook movement ‘Destroy the Joint’, 59 Australian women have been murdered in 2018 in acts of violence against women. In 2017, 53 women were killed. A couple of weeks ago, a modest group of about 60 Tamworth people donned purple shirts and marched down Peel Street as a clarion call against the stifling silence which shrouds violence against women. In the lead up to the march, Tamworth Family Support Service boss Belinda Kotris highlighted that eight women had been killed in Australia in the preceding week. “If eight people were killed in a terrorist attack, it would be a national disaster,” she said. Outrage is a staple in the media diet, but when it comes to talking about topics to get the jowls juttering, violence against women is staggeringly low on the list. This weekend Nick Cave, the Australian songwriter and oft-dubbed “prince of darkness”, shone a gut-wrenching light on his grief accompanying the death of his teenage son, which talked about the energy of mourning. “Grief is the terrible reminder of the depths of our love and, like love, grief is non-negotiable,” he wrote. Yet, violence against women in Australia negotiates its way well down the bulletin. Maybe we’re not grieving these women because the love is not there. It must change. Support the local news that keeps you informed – subscribe today Have your say. Click this link to send a letter to the editor

A few moments later on the broadcast, there was a brief report of a candlelight vigil attended by hundreds in Adelaide for a woman who was murdered by a man at a shopping centre.

According to the gender equity Facebook movement ‘Destroy the Joint’, 59 Australian women have been murdered in 2018 in acts of violence against women.

In 2017, 53 women were killed.

A couple of weeks ago, a modest group of about 60 Tamworth people donned purple shirts and marched down Peel Street as a clarion call against the stifling silence which shrouds violence against women.

In the lead up to the march, Tamworth Family Support Service boss Belinda Kotris highlighted that eight women had been killed in Australia in the preceding week.

“If eight people were killed in a terrorist attack, it would be a national disaster,” she said.

Outrage is a staple in the media diet, but when it comes to talking about topics to get the jowls juttering, violence against women is staggeringly low on the list.

This weekend Nick Cave, the Australian songwriter and oft-dubbed “prince of darkness”, shone a gut-wrenching light on his grief accompanying the death of his teenage son, which talked about the energy of mourning.

“Grief is the terrible reminder of the depths of our love and, like love, grief is non-negotiable,” he wrote.

Yet, violence against women in Australia negotiates its way well down the bulletin.

Maybe we’re not grieving these women because the love is not there. It must change.